<p>My husband and I will be celebrating one of those milestone anniversaries this spring/summer and are thinking about an Alaska cruise. We cruised to Bermuda on Norwegian in 2002 and he hated it, but says that the Alaska cruise will be better.</p>
<p>We are limited to a three week window in late June/early July and we are flying from the east coast. We are looking at 6-8 day cruises. I know we want a balcony room for this trip.</p>
<p>Suggestions? Advice? One way or round trip cruise? Bigger boat, smaller boat? Land activities? Things not to miss?</p>
<p>Cruisecritic.com is a a great website with lots of information.</p>
<p>We did roundtrip from Vancouver and given your time frame, that might be best. (that is why we did it.) I would have preferred to stay longer and done one of the one way cruises, so that I could see more of inner-Alaska, but that wasn’t in the cards this trip.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, that it won’t be real warm when you go, but that will make the crowds better.</p>
<p>We arranged all our excursions on our own. It has been about 5 years, but we saved a bunch of money and had more intimate experiences. Be prepared, Alaska excursions are expensive, and it is not worth it to travel that far and not do the really great excursions.</p>
<p>I’ve done Alaska a few times, it is truly a wonderful experiece. Your questions on ship size, things to do, etc depend more on you and your husband than anything else. Cruise lines run like hotels, they each have their own “signature”. So what matches well for one person doesn’t match another quite as well. The previous suggestion of cruise critic is a good one. They have message boards with many people who are always happy to help, but, be careful. You don’t know if the person responding to your question matches your likes and dislikes or not. If you want you can PM me with you and hubby’s interests and I will try to suggest a few things that match up. I agree with your balcony thoughts and would suggest an aft facing balcony of you can find one. I have had these in the past and favor them over the standard balconies.</p>
<p>When we did one two years ago, we flew into Anchorage, spent the night there, then took the cruise southward to Vancouver, then flew home that day. We saw more of the state that way. </p>
<p>I have booked cruises on two internet sites – Online Vacation Center and Vacations to Go. They were both excellent…very good customer service. Now’s a really good time to book a cruise as the prices have dropped significantly. I envy you!</p>
<p>I lived in Anchorage, if you start or finish in Anchorage make sure you make a reservation for dinner at Simon and Seaforts, ask for a window, and do it well in advance. Also go to the Hilton for cocktails at night, they have a beautiful roof top bar/restaurant (their food is noveau and I am not a fan of it)</p>
<p>Late June can be a hit or miss for weather, some yrs all it did was spit on us (not really raining)</p>
<p>Portage Glacier is a nice day trip. I know the Princess Cruise line has a hotel near there, but I wouldn’t stay there. I would stay at Captain Cook or the Hilton. Make sure in Anchorage to take a walk past the whale mural by the mall!</p>
<p>I third the cruisecritic suggestion. They were invaluable in planning our Caribbean cruise last summer.</p>
<p>Our Alaska cruise was 25+ years ago so not much help with today’s options. We combined it with a land tour first, then cruised back from Juneau to Vancouver. Everything was fantastic.</p>
<p>What did he hate about the Bermuda cruise? I hate the Atlantic City atmosphere and cheesy entertainment of the big lines. If that’s the part he didn’t like, there are a lot of good options in Alaska that avoid that whole scene.</p>